“God, I know you are real but I don’t want you,” senior English major McKenzie Strasko said as she quoted her 15 year old self’s feelings toward God.
“I was saved at a young age as many people were. That being said, there is also a moment where faith has to become your own. That didn’t happen until I was fifteen,” Strasko said while holding her freshly stemmed cappuccino. “There were a lot of years of me understanding who the Lord was in big picture terms but not really understanding who he was on a personal level.”
When Strasko was 15, she faced the most difficult time of her life. Depression and anxiety took over.
“I got to the point where I really wanted to give up on God, and I told him that,” Strasko said. “It was like every time I prayed, every time I read my Bible, I ended up sobbing and I was so angry with the Lord.”
Could it be that the nature of understanding Strasko had regarding faith when she was 15 is the same nature of understanding many of us have today about discipleship?
We understand the big picture idea yet we miss the personal understanding and implication of what it truly is. We tend to check it off a list with a monthly coffee date or occasional prayer request shared in a small group. These are good things but maybe we are missing the point. Maybe God has something deeper.
Union University has multiple programs for discipleship: Serve Team, Mob Squad, Delight Ministries, Chapel and Life Groups to name a few. Professors are born-again believers who speak openly about Christ in the classroom. Leadership genuinely seeks to glorify the Lord in all ways and to love this community well. Still, many students are depressed, many students are anxious and many students are slowly growing apathetic in their faith.
“That was definitely the lowest point in my life. I was so far from God and I lived like that for a while until I got to the point where I was praying for the first time in a long time,” Strasko continued as she shared her testimony. “I was crying out to God when in that moment the Lord gave me this peace and was like ‘I know you don’t want me, but I still want you.’ That was the biggest turning point in my life. I still had a lot of things to work through, but God told me in that moment ‘I am not letting you go. You are mine and there is nothing you can do about that.”
Strasko has since grown exponentially in her faith and it is clearly evident in her life. First and foremost she has been discipled by Jesus Christ, but there is no doubt that the ministry of Union University has played a large role in that discipleship.
“McKenzie is a great example of someone who is a discipler because she walks the way that she talks and she’s humble about it,” Erilynn Denninger, junior political science major and Serve team member said.
It can be easy in a broken and hurting world to become despaired. We see the brokenness in those around us and the faults in programs — even programs of ministry. By God’s grace, for 200 years of Union University’s existence, Union has not given up on the mission of discipleship. Union has held to the command of Matthew 28 to “go and make disciples.” Just as God has not left Mckenzie, God has not left this campus.
The ministries of the University are bearing fruit that has and will continue to have eternal impact. As times and culture change, the word of God remains the same and that is what this school is centered upon. The Christian mission of making disciples and building God’s kingdom has not changed either.
“I think there are a couple of essential elements of discipleship that I have seen over my years in college,” McKenzie said. “Firstly, it has to be rooted in the Word. If you are not rooted in the word, there really is no point to the discipleship that you are doing.”
This year, McKenzie has worked as the Serve team intern. She has been leading a group of ten women, many of whom are the same age as her. This is a daunting task, but she has approached it with prayer, humility and a focus on the Word of God.
“Secondly, discipleship has to be sacrificial, and that is so true of many Christian endeavors but specifically with discipleship,” Strasko said. “You have to be willing to give up time and things you want — especially in conversations — to be willing to hear from other people and give up aspects of your life, just like Jesus did.”
Mark 10:45 states that Jesus “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” That is the example we are called to follow and the love we get to receive from him.
Strasko continued with her third essential element of discipleship:
“Discipleship is living life with another person. You are getting involved in their life and I think if you are not having fun while doing it, what’s the point, you know?” The Lord gives us relationships to have joy in them and have community in other people.”
Discipleship is not a one-time event. It is not something you can buy on amazon or achieve over one Modero order. It is a weekly, daily and moment-by-moment process that unfolds over a lifetime.
When Jesus lived with his disciples on earth, he walked everywhere. That says something about his ministry. He is invested in the process of sanctification. He is interested in the everyday. Jesus loves sinners and is not too busy to walk with them.